Sao Paulo warns of severe water rationing

Space Daily via AFP: Authorities in Sao Paulo, Brazil's richest state and economic hub, have warned they are considering severe water rationing if the country's worst drought in 80 years continues. Officials outlined draconian plans for alternating cuts that would leave areas without water for five days at a time.

"If the rain persists in not falling into the Cantareira reservoir system, the solution would be for very heavy rationing," said Paulo Massato, director of the state water company Sabesp. Sabesp runs the Cantareira system, which supplies nearly half of the Sao Paulo metropolitan area, South America's largest city with some 20 million people.

"The rationing would see two days with water and then five without," he said late Tuesday.
Massato said it was the only way to avoid a total cut in water supplies, which have been depleted by months of severe drought that have sent water levels to their lowest levels in living memory. Unless it rains soon, supplies could run out altogether by March....

Sao Paulo skyline shot by Jurema Oliveira, Wikimedia Commons. he copyright holder of this file allows anyone to use it for any purpose, provided that the source (http://www.fotosedm.hpg.ig.com.br/) is cited

Caracas to begin four months of water rationing

Space Daily via AFP: Water use in Caracas will be rationed for at least four months due to drought, authorities said Tuesday, as Venezuela grapples with shortages of basic goods which have spurred massive anti-government protests.

"We made a special water supply plan that will be released so that our people know the days they will have continuous service, night service and no service," Environment Minister Miguel Leonardo Rodriguez told reporters.

One in every four goods including basic food, hygiene products, medicine and auto parts, however, have already become difficult to find, resulting in long, lengthy lines. The shortages, rampant crime, inflation and other economic woes have resulted in more than two months of anti-government unrest which has left 41 people dead and more than 700 injured.

Rodriguez said that one of the three reservoirs that supply the Caracas valley with water was below minimum capacity and was closed. The water supply to the capital and its suburbs, home to five million people, has fallen by 13 percent from 19,500 liters per second to 17,000.

"We hope that (the rationing) will end at the end of August or mid-September" Rodriguez said, placing its termination at an undefined date that depends on how the country's upcoming rainy season goes....

A panoramic view of Caracas at night, shot by Wilfredor, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication